TR.BIZ: 8.20.2026

Welcome to The Trend Report: Business Edition™, a midweek look at top stories, trends, and more of what’s happening online and off by Kyle of The Trend Report™. Today, we’re exploring a fascinating new study on pleasure, a wild Chinese blockbuster, the emergence of a new right wing pipeline, Tung Tung Sahur’s latest adventure, and pervy Uncle Greg having another moment.

We are all very familiar with how surveillance culture has infiltrated our lives, from products like pervy Meta glasses to all seeing Flock eyes, the aesthetics of Ring cameras to that watching-at-you-from-above editorial fashion trend, but I want us to zoom out (Or in?) and consider how we are manifesting these sensations in our bodies, both in private and public. How does being under constant surveillance affect us whilst intimate? How often do you find yourself feeling like you’re starring in your own Truman Show, shifting for the benefit of an unseen (and nonexistent) audience? I know you, like me, find yourself adjusting for the eye of this non-existent camera given years of the camera’s gaze, but there seem to be many more ways we’re consciously (or not) manipulating and changing our behavior as something rots inside of us. All of this — and more — came directly to mind given new findings from experimental dating app HUD, who conducted a “pleasure census” of over 2000 people worldwide, majority of whom are Gen Z. Their findings fit into many narratives we know (people having less sex, our miscommunication state) that are wrinkled by some interesting observations (despite less sex people want more sex than they’re having, lying about pleasure in sex), some of which highlight how surveillance culture in this era is coming for sexual relations. This is all I could think about in reviewing findings like “29% stay quiet in bed to avoid ‘ruining the moment’” and “73% of Gen Z say concern about their appearance makes sex harder to enjoy” and — most crucially — “54% of Gen Z catch themselves performing” while masturbating. We’ve gone beyond fear of cringe to failure to launch sexually due to panopticism, which is very concerning. Curious to learn more about all of this and the culture of Gen Z intimacy issues, I asked a few questions of HUD’s sex and dating expert, Katie Dissanayake. Here’s what she had to say —

How does “solo performance” tie into Gen Z fears of being cringe, surveillance, etc.?
Gen Z is the first generation to grow up with so much of their lives captured, shared, and reacted to in real time. They’re incredibly aware of how they’re perceived, even when there isn’t a camera there. That creates an “always-on” feeling.

Our findings suggest that this sense of performance may be following people into their most private moments, including solo pleasure. If you’ve spent your whole life thinking about how you look, how you sound, whether something is cringe, or how something is perceived, it makes sense that it can be difficult to completely switch that awareness off in the bedroom. This also speaks to nearly a third choosing to stay quiet in the bedroom. Sometimes we can be so focused on having sex the “right way” that we’d rather stay quiet than risk ruining the moment, instead of communicating what could make it better.

What are we to make of solo pleasure rising as intercourse seems to drop?
While it can be perceived that way, I do think it more accurately shows how much people value pleasure and how they’re finding different ways to access it. Solo pleasure gives people a way to explore what they like on their own terms, without the logistical complications or the need to navigate anyone else’s needs. Partnered sex asks more of us: time, communication, vulnerability, and those can make things more complicated.

While 80% of respondents told us they aren’t having as much sex as they’d like, the number of respondents who engage in solo pleasure at least weekly is close at 79%. That tells me that the desire for sex and pleasure hasn’t disappeared. It may be that solo pleasure is more accessible when things like busy schedules, finding a partner, relationship dynamics, or difficulty communicating can get in the way. Rather than a recession in desire, we may be seeing a gap between the sex people want to be having and the sex they’re actually able to have.

What’s your advice for young people in approaching sex now?
The biggest thing young people can give themselves is permission to stop having the “right” kind of sex. There isn’t one trick to having a perfect sex life, and what feels fulfilling for one person might look completely different for someone else.

Young people have so much more information about sexuality than ever before, but they’re also navigating sex alongside social media, dating apps, porn, AI, and more. It can create a lot of expectations around sex that are simply not true.

I’d encourage people to reconnect with seemingly basic ideas: What do I want? What are my boundaries? Can I communicate those things with my partner? Good sex isn’t about performing correctly. It’s about being present enough to understand yourself and comfortable enough to communicate with someone else.

Why am I sharing this? Because we really must recognize that surveillance and the politics of consent so much more than Meta glasses: privacy and the ability to “be yourself” is indeed becoming more and more illusory, even when we’re alone or trying to be “in our bodies.” How can we create privacy again, both in personal and intimate relationships but also in the spaces between brands and people? How can we do this for ourselves? I’d posit a great way “back” is defaulting to less tech-y sexual items (erotic writing, pictures instead of video) and applying intercourse with a no-phone-or-mirror rule, to avoid distractions and prevent literal navel gazing that reinforces the “right” type of intimacies. Breaking down this binary of right-and-wrong is a key to finding our way back to humanity. This obviously relates to the trend of brands selling the idea of privacy, which wouldn’t be a thing if we didn’t make space to be more human. This is a new frontier, and clearly one to invest in.